Ohio

Friday Roundup

The AG Blues.  With Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann rebuffing demands for resignation, Ohio’s pols are contemplating impeachment as a course of action.  As the Columbus Dispatch notes, legislators are going to have to read up on the process; Dann would be the first statewide Ohio elected official ever to be impeached and removed.  Actually, there are two ways to removed Dann:  impeachment, which under the Ohio constitution is for any “misdemeanor in office,” or “through a complaint signed by at least 603,413 qualified electors that is filed and tried in court.”  Jonathan Adler over at the Volokh Conspiracy analyzes the constitutional provision and concludes that the term “misdemeanor” really refers to the traditional meaning of “misdeed” or “instance of misbehavior.” 

At any rate, Dann’s going to need all the help he can get.  According to another article in the Dispatch, Dann’s office is the subject of no fewer than seven separate investigations.

The benefits of a college education.  The story about the bust of the 75 San Diego State University students caught in a drug bust convinced me that getting into college isn’t as hard as it used to be.  After all, how bright do you have to be to figure that maybe it’s not a good idea to rely on ” mass text-messaging” as a “crucial marketing tool in the dealing operation”?  You think maybe as you’re sending out that message, “Attn. faithful customers, both myself and my associates will be in Vegas this coming weekend. So stock up, we will be back Sunday night,” and then proceeding to “list reduced prices on cocaine sold in bulk quantities,” the thought might enter your head, “Gee, I hope this message doesn’t fall into the wrong hands”?  What, all the billboards were taken?

We’re winning.  It’s just a new definition of “winning.”  Grits for Breakfast has an interesting take on a story in the Economist about the effect of the decline in meth lab busts, which authorities credit to restrictions on the the manufacture and sale of pseudoephridine.   Especially notable was the line from the article, which focused on the experience of a particular county in Washington state, “So grim was the methamphetamine experience in Pierce county that some view the rise of crack cocaine with relief.”  As Grits notes, “when shifting drug users TO crack cocaine has been re-defined as a public policy success, that’s an interesting moment.”

Ideas for your next marketing campaign.  You’ll thank me.

Full post as published by The Briefcase on May 09, 2008 (boomark / email).